Andrea Gabrieli
1533 — 1585
Andrea Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance. The uncle of the somewhat more famous Giovanni Gabrieli, he was the first internationally renowned member of the Venetian School of composers, and was extremely influential in spreading the Venetian style in Italy as well as in Germany.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Andrea Gabrieli.
From the period sources
Andrea Gabrieli, born in Venice’s Canareggio quarter around 1510, was a significant figure in the Venetian school, studying composition under its founder, Adrian Willaert, according to A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (1900). He began as a chorister at St. Mark’s in 1536, later succeeding Claudio Merulo as second organist there in 1566. Gabrieli was considered “the most eminent org. of his time” (A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1900), and his influence extended through his many distinguished pupils, including his nephew Giovanni Gabrieli, Hans Leo Hassler, and Jan Pieter Sweelinck. His compositions, which included masses, madrigals, and organ pieces like “Canzoni alia francese per l’organo,” were featured in collections by contemporaries such as Girolamo Diruta, who mentioned Gabrieli and Merulo “in terms of the highest respect” in his 1625 work Il Transilvano (A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, Vol. 2, 1875). Gabrieli also played a role in civic life, commissioned by the Republic to compose music for the 1574 reception of Henri III of France (Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, Vol. 2, 1889).